Century BCE Research Articles

The Status of Gaza in the Persian Period: Imperial Dynamics, Local Agency, and Long-Distance Trade

Abstract Although Gaza was among the largest and most important cities of the southern Levant, it has played a relatively minor role in recent reassessments of the reoccupation of the Palestinian coast and its administration in the Persian period. The widely-held scholarly view that Gaza fell outside of direct Achaemenid control, in a coastal zone conceded to a confederation of Arabian tribes ruled by the king of Qedar, is a primary factor in according it a separate status from the other cities of Philistia. This article argues that the sources do not support the notion that Gaza and its environs belonged to an Arabian district. Rather, Gaza, like the other coastal cities of Philistia, seems to have been redeveloped in the late sixth century BCE by Phoenician agents, likely from Tyre. While Gaza held a distinct position as the main outlet of Arabian and Egyptian trade, it was culturally and economically oriented around the wider Phoenician maritime network and integrated into a dense network of Achaemenid military and administrative infrastructure in the region. In the early fourth century BCE, however, the loss of Egypt and the eclipse of the Qedarites fundamentally transformed the nature of Achaemenid authority in the region. Gaza may have been lost during much or all of this period, and the Achaemenid response is visible across this border region. Nevertheless, Gaza retained its central commercial position across these disturbances.

AN EVALUATION OF THE COOKING VESSELS UNEARTHED IN THE TOPAKLI HÖYÜK EXCAVATIONS (1967-1974)

Excavations were carried out in Topaklı Höyük by L. Polacco between 1967 and 1974. During these studies, pottery and teapots used in cooking from layer L to layer C were unearthed. Pots recovered from different layers stand out with their common shape features (rims protruding, having a neck, round body, flat bottom, and handle attached between the neck and body). The soot/burn marks observed on the pots support the idea that these pots were used for cooking. Topaklı Höyük pots have different capacities. Small-sized ones may be related to the number of people in the house or used for making sauce, while larger ones may be related to the number of people in the house or the cooked product (such as milk). A teapot used for cooking on the stove was also found in Topaklı Höyük. This vessel, like the pots, has a flared rim, a round body, a flat bottom, a spout, and a single strip handle attached between the rim and the body. The cooking pots found in the Topaklı Höyük settlement had been frequently used in the Kızılırmak Basin. Encountered in all settlements in the region, these pots continued to be used without any change in form over a wide period, from the 7th century BCE to the 1st century BCE. The form called the teapot is a continuation of the form known from the Hittite Imperial Period in the Kızılırmak Basin.

Unity and Diversity in Greek Art

Athenian art was more or less dominant in the visual culture of the Greek world in the classical period but not in all areas. We explore here the influence of Athens on the art and architecture of regions that had developed their own local traditions. Thishappened in times of crisis, political as well as social. Such crises can be detected in the last decades of both the fifth and the fourth centuries BCE. We will begin by examining the impact of the Peloponnesian War on the artistic development of Arcadia and Laconiaand conclude with the aftermath of the Macedonian conquest of Athens after the Lamian War. It appears that in the last twenty years of the fourth century the Macedonians hired Attic masons to reproduce Athenian buildings in Macedonia, and the ban on luxurious grave monuments imposed on Athens by Demetrios of Phaleron drove Athenian artists to emigrate to Macedonia.

The exploitation of mountain natural resources during the Iron Age in the Eastern Pyrenees: the case study of production unit G at Tossal de Baltarga (Bellver de Cerdanya, Lleida, Spain)

The Iron Age site of Tossal de Baltarga (Bellver de Cerdanya) was a large Iberian residential complex occupying a strategic position in the middle of the Eastern Pyrenees. It was destroyed by fire in the second half of the 3rd century BCE, preserving an important volume of archaeological and bioarchaeological material in certain areas. This is the case of Building G, a two-story construction whose violent blaze has offered the possibility of analyzing a precise moment in the history of an Iron Age productive unit. The existence of a stable on the lower floor, where four sheep, a goat, and a horse were documented, and an upper floor, where textile production and storage were evidenced, allows us to analyse the complexity of the economic activities and exploitation of local resources, such as livestock, agriculture, forestry and mining.

The location of Tartessos: a fresh case for the reliability of Avienus’ Ora Maritima

Recent geomorphological, paleoenvironmental, and chronological evidence allows for a reconstruction of the coasts of southwest Iberia during the first millennium BCE that accords with descriptions of the region offered by authors of antiquity, most notably the description by the fourth-century CE Roman writer R. F. Avienus in his poem Ora Maritima. This poem contains information that appears to date from the sixth century BCE regarding, for instance, the pre-Roman polity of Tartessos. The reliability of this work as a historical source has been questioned for decades. Critics argue that the information is pertinent to our understanding of the literary, rather than historiographical, context of the Late Roman Empire. However, philological as well as historical analyses reveal no clear cause to doubt the documentary value of the Ora Maritima. Furthermore, geomorphological research makes it possible to identify most place-names in the poem; for example, the city embraced by the river Tartessos, apparently the political and trade center of the realm, may likely have stood on the present-day spit of La Algaida, which was an isle in the first millennium BCE. While this hypothesis has been advanced elsewhere, this article offers an entirely new set of evidences to support it.1

Dark pottery from the early Iron Age in southern Veneto, Italy: The provenance issue under the adoption of specific technological procedures

One of the earliest known settlements of Pre-Roman Padua, Veneto Region (north-eastern Italy) was located in the very centre of the present-day city. The archaeological excavations revealed structures related to craft activities (metallurgical and pottery workshops) and residential areas datable from the late 9th to the 1st century BCE. A large pyrotechnic structure formed by an earthen block densely filled and covered by broken ceramic vessels was found, bringing to light the earliest foundry of the Pre-Roman Padua known to date. Many potsherds found in the site correspond to a regional ceramic class that included coarse and fine wares mainly composed of very dark ceramic bodies. A multi-analytical study based on macroscopic and petrographic descriptions as well as mineralogical, geochemical and microstructural analyses, was carried out in order to state the technological choices adopted for producing these dark vessels and the provenance of the raw materials. A poorly manufacturing was adopted to produce the common pottery, resulting coarse wares uneven textured, while the fine wares were produced by adopting the purification of the base clays and/or the tempering of the clay pastes. Common geo-resources were used, consisting in illitic-chloritic clays rich in quartz and feldspars, the firing regime conditions covered a range of maximum temperatures (normally under 850 °C) and the temper was constituted by silicate (chiefly quartzite, rhyolite and trachyte rock fragments) and/or carbonate (calcite and/or dolomite) inclusions, that were added after having been grounded and/or sieved. The specific mineral and lithic markers of provenance identified in the sherds confirmed the correspondence of this pottery with a local production. However, the specific technological choices that were carried out must be taking into consideration, since the purification removed the larger grains originally present in the base clays and the tempering influenced the chemical composition of the sherds. The different degree of purification of the base clays and the differential tempering procedures that were accomplished point out the adoption of very specific recipes to produce the fine wares, suggesting the correspondence of this local ceramic class with diverse sub-productions and the high level of specialization achieved by the potters in southern Veneto during the Early Iron Age.

The Failure of Poseidon, ‘Averter of Disaster’ and the Mythical Geography of Isaiah 23:1–14

AbstractThe nostos, the return home in Greek mythology, is most often a journey over the sea, and it is the god Poseidon who rules the sea, both ensuring the safe passage of fishermen and sailors and causing disasters to individuals like Ajax son of Oileus, sometimes through obstacles like his daughter Charybdis. Most famously, he uses his power to hinder the nostos of Odysseus, all the while knowing he cannot prevent him from reaching home. This example illustrates how a god who may once have been the most powerful deity can no longer control ultimate results. As his power declines over the centuries, that of Zeus increases.It is also by sea that we see the ships in Isaiah 23, attempting to return to their homes in Sidon and Tyre on the eastern Mediterranean coast. In this Biblical passage from the eighth century BCE, the ships wail when they see that their seaport homes have been destroyed; there are no homes to which they can return. The great god of the Sea and the epichoric gods have failed to protect the cities which are considered their progeny. The Israelite prophet mocks their powerlessness and celebrates the power of his One God. There is no nostos, no homecoming for ships because they no longer have homes. Just as Poseidon could not prevent Odysseus from his nostos, the so-called Averter of Disaster has not prevented the disaster that has befallen his children.

Cosmology, Place, and History in Varros's De lingua latina 5

This article interprets Varro’s etymological discussion of locus in book 5 of Delingua Latina (1-56) as representative of a Varronian “place-based” history. It argues thatVarro’s reconstruction of Rome’s loci as cosmically essential and structuring elementsof both the city and Roman culture in his present day depended upon the author’s peculiarunderstanding of the past and of historical truth – namely, that fundamental principlesof truth manifest both on different levels of reality, and at different points in time.Places – temples, hills, groves, or otherwise – therefore were particularly significant inproviding access to the essential meaning of Rome’s institutions, religion, and people.Varro’s consideration of the Septimontium is then analyzed within this framework. Theargument demonstrates how Rome’s natural environment, construed as part of an originalcosmos, could explain the social and political facts of the present in Varro’s reconstructionof word-history. In particular, the religious importance of the Capitoline hill,and the separation of the Aventine from the rest of the city in the first century BCE, areboth given etymological explanations that depend upon the long-lost natural topographyof the city.

Images and Agency: Dynamics of Early Celtic Art and the Axial Age of Eurasia

This paper argues for a new way of thinking about Early Celtic art in the context of changes taking place throughout Eurasia during the fifth and fourth centuries bce. It applies ideas of anthropologist Alfred Gell, among others, regarding art as a stimulus to action. It asks, in the spirit of papers by Chris Gosden and W.J.T. Mitchell, ‘what did the art do’? The paper argues that this complex new art can be understood in terms of agency contributing to and even stimulating aggressive attitudes and practices on the part of elites during the late fifth and early fourth centuries bce. The new worldviews that are apparent in the new style, and actions driven by them, played major roles in Iron Age Europeans’ participation in the so-called Axial Age of dynamic change throughout Eurasia.

Copper for the early oxhide ingots traced to the South Urals

Oxhide ingots are flat, rectangular slabs of metal, most commonly of copper, with protruding corners of varying styles. These Late Bronze Age artifacts were widespread across the Mediterranean for approximately half a millennium between the 16th and 11th centuries BC. Although they are generally known as essentially a Cypriot “commodity brand” by the late 15th century BCE, the origin of this ingot’s distinct shape has remained unknown. With the expansion of the lead-isotope database of Eurasian copper ores, the origin of the oldest chemically characterized oxide ingots may now be defined. The bimodal lead isotope compositions of 15 early, pillow-shaped oxhide ingots excavated in Crete are consistent with those of copper ores from the Southern Urals, which are known to have been actively mined in the Bronze Age. Together, Pb isotope and trace element compositions indicate that the majority of the ingots were cast from copper derived from Ural-type Cu-Zn volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits. However, two ingots enriched in Ni, As, and Co match Main Ural Fault-type ores that are hosted by ultramafic rocks.The characteristic design of the pillow-shaped ingot was likely related to the particulars of overland transport, facilitating their long-distance conveyance on pack animals. There is further support of a non-Cypriot origin of this form in the possible association between the words for “ingot”, “copper” and “hide” across languages of Western Asia and the Mediterranean. Thus, an eastern origin of the oxhide form for ingots is likely.

Performance of Binarization Algorithms on Tamizhi Inscription Images: An Analysis

Binarization of Tamizhi (Tamil-Brahmi) inscription images are highly challenging, as it is captured from very old stone inscriptions that exists around 3rd century BCE in India. The difficulty is due to the degradation of these inscriptions by environmental factors and human negligence over ages. Though many works have been carried out in the binarization of inscription images, very little research was performed for inscription images and no work has been reported for binarization of inscriptions inscribed on irregular medium. The findings of the analysis hold true to all writings that are carved in irregular background. This article reviews the performance of various binarization techniques on Tamizhi inscription images. Since no previous work was performed, we have applied the existing binarization algorithms on Tamizhi inscription images and analyzed the performance of these algorithms with proper reasoning. In the future, we believe that this reasoning on the results will help a new researcher to adapt or combine or devise new binarization techniques.

Characterization of Culturable Mycobiome of Newly Excavated Ancient Wooden Vessels from the Archeological Site of Viminacium, Serbia.

Two ancient wooden vessels, specifically a monoxyle (1st century BCE to 1st century CE) and shipwreck (15th to 17th century CE), were excavated in a well-preserved state east of the confluence of the old Mlava and the Danube rivers (Serbia). The vessels were found in the ground that used to be river sediment and were temporarily stored within the semi-underground exhibition space of Mammoth Park. As part of the pre-conservation investigations, the primary aim of the research presented was to characterize the culturable mycobiomes of two excavated wooden artifacts so that appropriate conservation procedures for alleviating post-excavation fungal infestation could be formulated. Utilizing culture-based methods, a total of 32 fungi from 15 genera were identified, mainly Ascomycota and to a lesser extent Mucoromycota sensu stricto. Soft-rot Ascomycota of genus Penicillium, followed by Aspergillus and Cephalotrichum species, were the most diverse of the isolated fungi. Out of a total of 38 isolates, screened on 7 biodegradation plate assays, 32 (84.21%) demonstrated at least one degradative property. Penicillium solitum had the highest deterioration potential, with a positive reaction in 5 separate plate assays. The obtained results further broaden the limited knowledge on the peculiarities of post-excavation soft-rot decay of archaeological wood and indicate the biochemical mechanisms at the root of post-excavation fungal deterioration.

Scythian Jewelry Meshes and the Problem of Their Interpretation

This article explores the phenomenon of a specific type of personal adornment worn by members of the Scythian elite in the North Black Sea region in the second half of the 5th century and throughout the 4th century BCE. The discussion juxtaposes the records from 19th-century and early 20th-century excavations with contextual analyses of very recent discoveries from Ukraine, which shed significant new light on the appearance, production, and meaning of Scythian jewelry. The reconstruction of the shape of the jewelry type in question is greatly complicated by two factors: the lack of relevant depictions in the contemporary corpus of Scythian and Greco-Scythian figure scenes and misleading scholarly references to supposed analogies in a Roman-era mosaic, which became the chief reason for the misinterpretations of the ornament’s appearance. Composed of numerous gold or gilded silver tubes; beads; pendants; and, sometimes, “buttons,” this jewelry type is reconstructed in two gender-specific variants in this article: one mesh-like and the other with a cross-chest form. For over a hundred years, scholars have considered only the mesh variant to be the correct reconstruction. As a result, many costume reconstructions of this jewelry form in specialist research and museum displays alike are still proposed without a sufficient evidentiary base.

THE FUSION OF TURKISH RELIGIOUS THOUGHTS IN CENTRAL ASIAN BUDDHISM AND ITS REPERCUSSION TO BENGAL

This academic research is primarily concerned with two fundamental issues. The first objective is to depict Buddhist impacts on Turkic religious thoughts during Islamisation. The second issue is how this syncretic process aided Turks in capturing the Bengal region with the assistance of local Buddhists. The historical tie between Bengal and Central Asia dates to the first century BCE. In it, the northern Indian Maurya empire and the Turkish Huns played an important role. Through their efforts, Buddhism spread throughout Central Asia. Besides, Islam encountered significant opposition from Buddhism in Bengal and Central Asia. Over time, the Turks erected a Sultanate in Delhi and then hailed Bengal for the same purpose. As a result of an exhaustive search of the academic research on the database, applicable works have yet to be found related to running scholarly works. This study will employ a qualitative approach with a thematic focus. In addition, secondary categorical data from Turkish, English, and Bengali literature will be utilized in the current scholarly study.

Dietary changes seen through the isotope analysis of the La Tène burial site of Prosmyky (Bohemia, 4th-3rd century BCE)

Dietary reconstruction using carbon and nitrogen isotopes has been applied to the La Tène population buried at Prosmyky, a large cemetery of the 4th-3rd centuries BCE in northwest Bohemia. The analysis of bone collagen from 55 individuals showed a diet that did not differ noticeably from other contemporary sites in the region. However, chronologically sensitive development in diet, with gradually increasing δ13C values, was present, signifying a growing reliance on millet for sustenance through the cemetery’s lifespan. Moreover, a rather unusual higher δ15N in individuals older than ca. 30 years of age was also observed. Possible explanations are examined, along with a comparison with other published data from the region, suggesting the influence of regionally based developments that might be linked with the societal shifts that led towards the Late La Tène period.

Performers and Sites of the Ashwamedha Yagya in Medieval India

India has a very rich cultural history. The Ashwamedh Yagya, an important ritual and experiment from Vedic times, aimed to refine consciousness. Since the Vedic era, many Ashwamedha Yagyas have been performed. In light of scriptural texts and archaeological findings, the present study aimed to retrospectively analyze the performers and sites of the Ashwamedha Yagya in medieval India. The study found that 27 kings from 18 dynasties had performed a total of 81 documented Ashwamedha Yagyas from the 1st century BCE to the 18th century CE. Although the study tried to comprehensively identify all instances of Ashwamedha performed in medieval India, there may be more awaiting further study. The study observed that these findings were based on archaeological evidence, including copper plate inscriptions, stone inscriptions, brick and pillar inscriptions, yagya kunds, and coins. Ashwamedha sites were present throughout present-day India. An interdisciplinary approach combining archaeological, inscriptional, scriptural, and sociological findings, along with expertise from ritualistic scholars, could unveil new research directions on the rich history of Ashwamedha Yagya in Indian culture.

The Date of Ādi Śaṅkarācārya and Emergence of Śaivism as a Popular Religion in South India

The date of Ādi Śaṅkarācārya has been one of the unsolved problems of Indian Philosophy. He is generally accepted to have lived from 788 to 820 CE and is thus assigned from the end of the eighth century to the beginning of the ninth century. So far scholars who have worked on this problem have consulted his hagiographies and his works to determine his date. However, they have not studied the date of Ādi Śaṅkarācārya by placing him in the context of the development of religion in South India. Nor have they consulted South Indian sources, especially Tamiḻ texts, to see if there are any references to his philosophy. In this paper, I study the problem of the date of Ādi Śaṅkarācārya by consulting Tamiḻ sources and the hitherto less consulted epic Śivarahasya. I also connect his date with the emergence of Śaivism as a popular religion in South India. Based on my study, I place Ādi Śaṅkarācārya in the fifth century BCE and as a result, I emphasize the importance of redating Hindu scriptures, especially the Vedas, as Ādi Śaṅkarācārya is the earliest commentator.

Examining evidence for violence at the end of the Assyrian trading colonies period at Kaman‐Kalehöyük

AbstractThe end of the Assyrian Trading Colonies Period (ATCP) in Anatolia represents a time of significant change in the region. Historical and archaeological evidence suggests that considerable conflict and turmoil were associated with the end of the ATCP, but thus far little evidence from human skeletal remains has been available to support this hypothesis. One of the largest human skeletal samples dating to the end of the ATCP has been excavated at Kaman‐Kalehöyük in central Anatolia. A minimum of 73 individuals have been found in and around areas of the site that have signs of destruction and burning. These individuals appear to be associated with a battle that occurred in the town in the mid‐18th century BCE. The results show that the victims of the battle included individuals of all age groups and both sexes. The degree of burning and fragmentation made the identification of perimortem trauma challenging; however, perimortem trauma was observed in at least two individuals. An additional five individuals had evidence of antemortem trauma that was likely the result of interpersonal violence prior to the attack on the town. The skeletal evidence for trauma further supports the idea that a battle occurred at the site. This battle may have also been a part of a regional pattern of violence corresponding with the end of the ATCP, as suggested by the textual and archaeological evidence.

Geomagnetic Field Intensity During the First Millennium BCE From Royal Judean Storage Jars: Constraining the Duration of the Levantine Iron Age Anomaly

AbstractThe rich and extensively studied archaeological record of the Near East provides an opportunity to develop a comprehensive archaeomagnetic dataset for exploring the behavior of the geomagnetic field with high precision. The Levantine archaeomagnetic curve (LAC) project is an ongoing effort to develop a continuous high‐resolution geomagnetic intensity curve for the Levant and Mesopotamia. The first version of the LAC covered the period between 3000 and 550 BCE. Here, we report archaeointensity data from 169 samples compiled into 32 groups dating between the 7th and the 1st centuries BCE aiming at extending the LAC up to the end of the first millennium BCE. Twenty‐two groups are assembled from storage jar handles bearing different types of royal seal impressions, which were used in Judah as part of a taxation administrative system. These groups are combined with 10 other groups of pottery assemblages, three of which are from Hellenistic destruction layers dated using radiocarbon and coins. The new curve shows that the Levantine Iron Age Anomaly (LIAA) spanned 550 years (1100 ‐ 550 BCE) and that the rate of decline during the last spike around 600 BCE could have reached ∼0.6 μT/year. During the 6th century, the virtual axial dipole moment (VADM) dropped from 160 ZAm2 to 125 ZAm2 after which field intensity only slightly increased to 135 ZAm2, until another considerable decline to ∼90 ZAm2 during the 3rd to the 1st centuries BCE. We highlight the archaeomagnetic implication of the new curve in inferring the relative chronological relationship between different stamp types.

Coinage networks in fifth-century BCE Ionia

Abstract This article revisits ‘the problem of Classical Ionia’, the long-persisting idea put forward by John Manuel Cook in 1961 that Ionia experienced regional economic impoverishment in the fifth century BCE. By looking comprehensively at the dataset of coinage available from fifth-century Ionia, this article argues that there is actually significant evidence for regional networking in Classical Ionia, and that various communities, even if not continually emitting new coinages at all points in the fifth century, adopted various strategies for maintaining their economic reach and extending their network of trading partners. Formal network analysis is applied to the coinage dataset, taking the shared weight standards to which communities minted their coins as indicative of participation in common economic networks. The network patterns are tested against two other patterns, specifically the distribution of fifth-century Chian and Samian amphoras, and the pattern of Ionian-coin-containing hoards from within and beyond Ionia. Together, these patterns strengthen the case for a high-level Ionian economic resilience, offering a radically different position to Cook and reaffirming that continuing economic networking was crucial to the activities of fifth-century Ionian states.